In a Year
by TheGermanVegetarian
Summary: In a Year, how much can change? The Doctor, happy to have come out of Trenzalore relatively unscathed and with all his friends alive and well, he is invited to dinner in Victorian London, in which he meets a lovely Barmaid turn governess whom he is sure he has met before, setting about an adventure that will span across all of time and space. Twelve/Clara friendship


Doctor Who © BBC

*_Italics _= phone calls*

.o0o.

Chapter One – The Christmas Mystery

"So Ponds, how is your Christmas?" The Doctor asked eagerly down the receiver of the TARDIS phone.

Amy's laugh sounded from the phone in response to the Doctor's enthusiasm, even with a different body he still held the same love of Christmas, _"So far so good, I guess."_ She replied, _"We spent Boxing Day with Rory's family and River came to visit, which was nice though she caused a bit of confusion as she literally appeared at the door, calling me 'mother' and asking if 'her sweetie had been arrested for his dancing yet'."_

The Doctor leaned back in his captain's chair with and unrepentant grin, "Really? And how did the in-laws take to that?" He inquired not bothering to hide his amusement at their situation.

Amy sighed, he could almost see her rubbing her forehead in frustration, _"Not very well, they thought she was a crazy woman who got a little too close to the Christmas sherry." _She sighed, _"It took at least twenty minutes to convince them that she wasn't and was just a friend from our travels."_

Her anecdote received a hearty laugh from the old time lord, "I'll admit, my dancing was horrific when I was him."

"_At last you agree with Me."_ she asked, her tone suggesting a light tease, _"So, where exactly are you? Or should I ask when?"_

"I am in Victorian London and its December twenty-third." He explained eagerly, "Madame Vastra and Jenny where kind enough to invite me to Christmas dinner, so who am I to turn them down?"

Amy laughed, _"Of course, you wouldn't miss it for the world."_ She said, _"Have you always loved Christmas this much?"_

The Doctor scratched his wrinkled chin in thought, "No, I don't think so, I believe it is something that started in my tenth body and just never went away." He shrugged despite knowing Amy couldn't see him.

"_So there was a time you didn't like Christmas?"_ Amy asked sounding genuinely surprised at the apparent fact, _"That's almost disturbing."_

"Oh yes, though it's not all that surprising as that me didn't really like anything other than bananas and the little pink and yellow human he was with at the time." The Doctor replied nonchalantly, "Though I must say that am no longer as fond of other forms of social gatherings as much as I used to."

Amy made a mock booing sound, _"So that means no birthday parties?" _she asked teasingly.

The Doctor sighed, "No birthdays, no get togethers' and definitely no Halloween parties." He stated firmly.

"_What's wrong with Halloween?"_

"The thought of child running around dressed as all kinds of who knows what, asking for sweets irritates me greatly, in fact, now that I think about it, I'm not fond of children in general now." He replied curtly, the realisation bothered him for a moment but he quickly decided he didn't care enough about it.

"_Alright, I'll keep that in mind for future reference."_ Amy said amusedly.

The Doctor looked at his watch with mild interest, "Well, I believe that I must be going, I don't want be late, Madame Vastra would not be too happy if I were." The Doctor stood up from his chair, still holding the phone to his ear, he picked up his blue knitted fleece and matching scarf.

"_Okay, tell Vastra and Jenny that I said hello, and give Strax a pat on the head for me."_ Amy said, _"And don't be a stranger alright? Just because we aren't travelling with you doesn't mean we have stepped out of your life, got it?" _her tone was of a mock threat but the message was still serious.

The Doctor gave a chuckle, "I got it, see you again, Amelia."

"_See ya, Raggedy Man."_ And with that, she hung up.

The old alien smiled fondly as he set his phone back down onto the main console. He was happy with this 'arrangement', if it could even be called that, for once, his companions had left him on good terms, no death, no sadness, nothing, he didn't have the guilt of ruining their lives weighing down on his shoulders and no running as fast as he could to try and forget them and move on. Even then, he was sure that even if he did try and forget Amy and Rory, Amy would just track him down and give him a few solid smacks to knock some sense into him – she had waited twelve years for him, anything more would be nothing to her – not to mention, she had Madame Vastra and Jenny firmly on her side, and even Strax seemed fairly partial to Amy, which is strange as the only person he showed any respect to was Madame Vastra, so if he did try and run off, he'd have them after him as well, not a thought in which he liked.

However, that did not mean that he wasn't lonely anymore, despite having both Madame Vastra's and the Pond's residence as a place to come back to and call home, the TARDIS felt just as big and empty as at any other point in his life when he was alone. It was not a feeling he enjoyed not in the slightest. Amy had suggested that he go out and get another companion to travel with, quickly adding 'that it would be nice to have another human to talk time-wimey with'. He supposed that he should… but who to take? That was the question.

The Doctor sighed, he could just do what he usually did when it came to companions; just run into a random person, have an adventure with them then take them with him, if they wanted to that is.

But for now, he had to get to dinner with a dinosaur-woman, a lock picking Victorian maid and a war mongering potato headed butler.

Slipping on his fleece and wrapping his scarf loosely around his neck, the Doctor grabbed the bottle of fine hundred and five year old wine and a bottle of AB blood he had gotten for them as a gift and set out of the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor had landed the ship on a thin yet strong layer of ice, quite ingenious if he said so himself, and on the small perception filter placed on the spiralling stair leading up to his cloud, no ordinary human would be able to see, let alone get to the TARDIS.

The Doctor made his way down the staircase and across the street to the Rose and Crown where he would meet Strax for the coach to Madame Vastra's. The night was chilly; snow lay in thick blankets on the streets and clouds where heavy in the sky. London looked like something out of one of those tacky Christmas post cards you get in the Twenty-first century.

After a few minutes' walk, the Doctor spotted the coach on the far side of the bar, The Rose and Crown, and its short, thick bodied driver, with a head like that of a baked potato. More affectionately known as Strax.

"Ah, Strax it's good to see you again." The Doctor greeted the Sontaran warrior, "How are you?"

Strax bowed slight seeing the Doctor, "I am well, sir." He replied, "I have able to do glorious battle with a fine race of people, known as the Scottish on my days off." Strax sounded excited at the thought of the Scottish.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the clone's enthusiasm, "Of course Strax, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." He patted Strax on the head quickly, "There, that was from Amy."

Strax looked extremely disgruntled by the action and started muttering under his breath, most likely cursing Amy's name for having him being treated like that.

"So shall we go?" the Doctor said, indicating to the coach, wanting to move on quickly.

Strax bowed again and hopped back up on to the driver's seat of the coach and the Doctor got into the back. The carriage was fine and comfortable, definitely something that belonged in upper-class Victorian society. There was a long brass speaker the stretched up from the floor of the carriage, looking somewhat similar to a speaker on a gramophone. A loud 'hyah' from Strax and the coach started moving, rocking side to side as it rolled over the cobbled road.

"Hello there Doctor." A regal and female voice sounded from the speaker, "How are you this fine evening."

"Good evening, Madame Vastra." The Doctor replied formally, "I am well, Amy sends you and Jenny her regards."

"Oh wonderful, I shall pass the message on right away."

"So why are you talking to me now?" the Doctor's tone suddenly very curt and down to business, "You usually like to wait until we are in person to exchange pleasantries."

Vastra laughed, "Very astute of you, Doctor, but then again I expect nothing less."

"Get on with it."

"Oh alright, no need to get upset about it." Vastra almost huffed, "I'm calling you to inform you that I have gotten reports of people that have been disappearing mysteriously from all over London, as well as a series of snowmen appearing at random." I thought you might want to look into this.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her statement, "And why, pray tell, would I do that?" he asked slowly, "This sounds like something you'd like to sink your teeth into."

He could almost hear Madame Vastra smirk known full well how literal his metaphor was.

"I would, but I have seen a few of these snowmen myself and I must say that they give off a rather strong psychic field and even more interesting, they give off the feeling of a predator, on with the most primal need to feed I believe I have encountered since the end of the Cretaceous period." She explained

That got the Doctor's attention, "So, let me guess, you believe that these people disappearing is related to these psychic, hungry snowmen?" he folded his arms and placed one hand against his chin in thought.

"Indeed I do." Vastra said confidently, "In all my years, I've learned to trust my instinct; however, I believe it best if we discuss it over dinner."

"Agreed." The Doctor responded. This Christmas may be more fun than he originally anticipated.

Ten minutes later the later, the Doctor arrived at Paternoster Row. He got out of the carriage, followed closely by Strax, and rapped the oak door hard. There was a few second's wait until the door swung open revealing a small brunette maid. As soon as the maid spotted him, she gave him a large warm smile.

"'Ello Doctor." Jenny said happily, she opened the door wide and stood to the left letting him in, "Mistress is in the lounge, dinner will be served in the dining room in about five minutes."

The Doctor gave slight nod of his head in acknowledgement, "Thank you Jenny," he handed her the bottle of wine, "Congratulations by the way." He gave her slight smile, spying the gold wedding band on her finger.

Jenny blushed a pretty shade of red, "Th-thank you Doctor." She took the bottle and headed back into the kitchen, doing her best not to look too embarrassed.

Through true to her word, Madame Vastra was sitting comfortably in the lounge, the term 'lounge' be used very loosely in this situation. It was more like a miniature tropical rainforest put into a large room that was once a lounge. The air was warm and humid – a far cry from outside – and there where trees up to the ceiling and a thing grove of ferns and various other plants that filled the room making it feel they weren't even in London any more, though the giveaway was the solid concrete flooring. Vastra herself sat in the only clearing in the middle of room sitting in a comfy looking weaved chair with a book in hand and a glass of what looked like fine red wine – was anything but of course – sitting on a polished granite table top.

"Ah, Doctor." Vastra looked up from her book at him, "Good to see you made it." She stood up and held out her hand.

The Doctor approached and took her hand giving it a firm shake before setting the bottle of blood down on the table and sitting down in the weaved chair opposite her, "Of course, though I was worried Strax would get us lost or end up killing the horse… again." His tone leaving it open to whether he was joking or not.

Vastra gave a very unwomanly snort, "I understand your concern. I've been there a few times myself."

"Congratulations on your marriage, by the way." The Doctor said with a smile, "How long has it been?"

Vastra smiled fondly down at the gold band on her left hand, the smooth metal spinning easily over her green scaled finger, "One year last month." Came her reply.

The Doctor's smile spread even wider, "You and Jenny will be very happy together." It wasn't an opinion.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"So, I believe you wanted to discuss more about these Hungry Snowmen and these disappearing people?" The Doctor asked with a raised eyebrow.

Vastra nodded, her expression now set in stone, "Yes, I do."

"Well? Tell me what you know?"

"What do you know of Walter Simeon?"

.o0o.

**I think I'll cut it off there. I think that went well, don't you? After all this is just my first **_**Doctor Who**_** story on fanfiction, so I'm contented with it. Though I'm pretty sure that I could have gone on longer, possibly well over 4,000 words, but I wanted to break it up into bits, quality over quantity and all that.**

**The setting for this story is a little complicated (in which I shall not apologise for it), though this is it in the best way to explain it so you better read this if you don't want to get lost;**

**Series 7A happened as normal, EXECPT The angels take Manhattan never happened, but the Day of the Doctor and the Time of the Doctor happened in its place, so Amy and Rory are still ALIVE and are in Leadworth and Eleven has regenerated into Twelve. So this story is picking up from The Snowmen and going on from there with the Twelfth Doctor, instead of the Eleventh.**

**Simple as that.**

**And for the record this will be a series of at LEAST 8 original stories (which I am still planning) plus 3 cannon ones (those being The Snowmen, The Bells of Saint John and The Name of the Doctor) all of course with my own little twists.**

**I want to give my massive thanks to one Bubblygal96, an amazing author – if you haven't read her stories, you are missing out on a lot – and the one who helped my get the boost I needed to write this. You have my thanks.**

**Anyways, next chapter should be out in a week and I'll have a link to my Doctor's out fit on my profile.**

**Please remember to leave a review of what you thought. It would be much appreciated. **

**To times to come, and all my love the past, I bid you, farewell. **


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